Monday, December 28, 2015

The relatively new Restaurant Seven Swans in Frankfurt, Germany, is a very special place in many regards.

It is small, with 20 seats or so only, located on the five floors of a small house, the architecture itself is a highlight - a building created in the space between 2 others, each floor only 40 m2.

Pictures: Seven Swans

Cooking is at the highest level. Seven Swans just was awarded a Michelin star, under Chef Jan Hoffmann. Additionally, the food is prepared with an ecological mindset – natural, regional and organic.

Seven Swans was opened by Chef Kimberley Unser 4 years or so ago. In 2013, she was the Gault Millau Deutschland Discovery of the Year. A year later, because of the wish to take time out for her child, she handed over to her Deputy Jan Hoffmann. He was awarded a star in 2015 by the Michelin Guide. Interestingly, in the Gault and Millau, Seven Swans is still at 15 toques only. SchauMahl, one of my favorite restaurants in the Frankfurt area, is in the 16 toques group, without, however, a Michelin star.

When you enter the restaurant, you are immediately in the middle of the Tiny Cup, a tiny (17 m2 only), intimate bar, which at this year’s “Mixologie Bar Awards” was named “New Bar of the Year”.

Picture: Seven Swans Entrance

The two dining rooms are in the third and fourth floor. If you take the small elevator (2 people maximum) you arrive in the middle of the kitchen in the fifth floor. From there, you walk down the small stairs to the fourth floor (with 4 tables with 12 seats) or one floor further to the third floor. We were eight and our table was basically taking up the whole room of the third floor, although there was another table with 2 seats. The fourth floor is kept in dark brown colors, while the third floor is all in white.

The food is a set five-course meal (89 Euros) that changes each month. The food is exquisite. The December menu was creative and delicious.

The team in the kitchen is guided by “regional, biologisch, natürlich" – from the region, with an ecological mindset, natural. The vegetables come from their own little vegetable garden in the Taunus. The meat and the fish is provided by producers with the same philosophy.

In terms of wine, each course comes with a glass of wine. Alternatively, you can choose from the small wine list, which we did.

I understand that in the future, you will have choice of orderiing less than 5 courses.

Pictures: Best Seats - at the Window

Chef Jan Hoffmann with his team of 2 creates the delicious food in what is little more than a closet in the fifth floor. He also comes to the dining room for serving the main courses.

The service was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. Each course was well explained.

Seven Swans also has a Cigar Bar down in the cellar where one can finish off the evening with a fine cigar and a Cognac.

Cool Cities: With the swans living just across the way on a small, environmentally protected island in the Main River, you can easily watch them from your table as you eagerly anticipate Kimberly Unser's appetizers. The young chef was lauded by Gault Millau as the "Discovery of the Year" in 2012 and she demonstrates just how accurate this praise is on three of the seven floors of the smallest building in Frankfurt. The atmosphere is unique, the gourmet cuisine delightful. Simply a jewel.

Citymoments by hotel.de

Citymoments: The door of one of the narrowest houses in the city, „Seven Swans“ opens after a gentle pressure on the bell. It is not only the kitchen staff or the very refined way in which the food is cooked with regional products, it is also the location. Here you have the opportunity to sit on one of the most incredible terraces of the city and look at the starry sky of an idyllic, beautiful summer‘s night. Before you is a bubbly glass of champagne, behind you, separated by a glass door, the kitchen staff prepare your meal. And nowhere is dinner more special then here, overlooking the city skyline, and because you and your three guests have the terrace exclusively to yourselves! The seats in the main restaurant are no less spectacular, but these four chairs are amongst the most sought after in the city. Enjoy it.

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About Me

I live in the greater Washington DC (US) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany) areas and write about wine. I am a member of the FIJEV (International Federation of Wine and Spirits Journalists and Writers). Before starting to write about wine in 2009, I was for almost 30 years an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am currently in Washington DC.